


after a while

by sueno



Category: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-19 13:49:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13125015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sueno/pseuds/sueno
Summary: snapshots of natsume's third year





	after a while

**Author's Note:**

> “And you learn that you really can endure. That you really are strong, that you really do have worth. And you learn and you learn… with every goodbye, you learn.”
> 
> — con el tiempo te das cuenta, jorge luis borges
> 
>  
> 
> (written for midnightsunmadness on tumblr)

i.

 

Springtime brings change.

 

Their third year of high school begins, the girls dawning their warm-weather seifuku, and the teachers start bringing up college and future plans more and more. For the first time, Nishimura and Kitamoto are split up and placed in different classrooms. Nishimura whines about it during lunch, mouth full of yakisoba bun.

 

“What am I gonna do?”

 

“What you should do is use the free time to study,” Sasada replies, deadpan. “Honestly, your grades are so bad you’d think you sleep through class.”

 

“Natsume does!”

 

“Natsume isn’t failing statistics!”

 

Laughter breaks out through the group at Nishimura’s expense, but Natsume’s eyes widen and he stops just short of taking a bite of rice. “Hey, wait a minute… I forgot to do yesterday’s worksheet. I really will be failing statistics if I don’t get it done!” 

 

Packing up his things in a small panic, Natsume rushes off and promises to see them later.

 

By now used to his odd behavior and flightiness, nobody pays him much mind, but Taki nudges Tanuma in question, staring in the direction that Natsume ran off. “You don’t think…?”

 

Tanuma smiles at her but shakes his head. “Probably not, my head feels fine. Maybe he was busy last night though, and that’s why he doesn’t have his homework done.”

 

She smiles back and nods. “That must be it.”

 

ii.

 

Kumamoto drowns in the summer.

 

The season ushers forth rain, thick deluges coming down from the mountains and carving rivulets into the soft ground. Humidity weighs down the air and leaves Natsume with a heavy feeling as he watches the rain trickle down his bedroom window panes.

 

On the table sits career-advising sheet. It’s blank, like it was the last two years. But it’s the final year and his homeroom teacher expects it to be filled out this time around.

 

Seeing any kind of future for himself that doesn’t somehow involve youkai and the yuujinchou is nigh impossible. Several times, Nyanko has said that he’ll look after the book, at least while Natsume is in college, but the line between looking after and stealing sounds too blurry. 

 

For now, he writes in a generic field of study and leaves it at that, shifting around so that his head rests against the low table’s surface. With the raindrops battering the rooftop and the sound of Nyanko’s quiet snores lulling him, Natsume is lulled to sleep.

 

—

 

The ground gives way underfoot, muddy from the last couple days’ worth of rain showers. Nishimura stomps up ahead, leading Natsume, Kitamoto, and Tanuma through a less-traveled part of the woods.

 

“I swear it was here somewhere!” he shouts back at them, a frazzled look on his face.

 

“The last time you tried to show us something ‘cool’ we got lost for hours!” Kitamoto yells in return. “The only reason we go out is because of Natsume’s cat-thingy.”

 

Natsume laughs quietly to himself at the both of them, and with a glance to the side, he sees that Tanuma is grinning too. 

 

“You know…” Natsume keeps his voice quiet enough so that only Tanuma can hear him. He doesn’t think it matters, though, because Nishimura and Kitamoto have started bickering, and it’s hard to get them to stop once they start. “If we get lost, my cat-thingy can’t help us. He was out late last night and I don’t think i saw him this morning, either.”

 

Tanuma looks towards him and chuckles. “Where does he go?”

 

“Who knows, but he always comes back drunk.”

 

“I didn’t think cats could drink alcohol.”

 

“He’s not a real cat though. Even his body was a clay maneki-neko it start with, so I don’t think it counts.”

 

“True,” Tanuma hums. Ahead of them, Nishimura and Kitamoto seem to have stopped their arguing, but Kitamoto has decidedly become to leader of their expedition.

 

iii.

 

Fall is passes, like most falls do.

 

On a Sunday mid-October, Natsume makes the trek out to a little shrine in the next town over, a brown paper bag filled with manjuu tucked beneath his arm. Nyanko-sensei trails close behind, feigning disinterest and humming a tune about soda springs.

 

There was a girl, a couple of weeks ago. A youkai, Nyanko corrects, whenever Natsume mentions her out loud. She’s gone now, as are most of the youkai that Natsume encounter. But the buns are for her, an offering in case she stops by.

 

Natsume arranges the manjuu in a little pyramid on the altar, four in all, and claps in hands together to say a short prayer.

 

“You’re wasting your time and money.”

 

When Natsume raises his head, Nyanko’s eyes are kitsune-like, wary.

 

“What should I be doing instead?”

 

The moment passes, and Nyanko’s expression disappears. “You should be buying me mochi,” he huffs out.

 

Natsume smiles and nods. “Next time, then?”

 

iv.

 

Winter is bittersweet.

 

Exams run their course through the school and leave its entire population lifeless. Taki’s eyes are bruises underneath, Nishimura’s bubbly personality is gone in place of exhaustion, and even Sasada saves her lecture when she sees two other classmates roughhousing in the hallways.

 

At dinner on the last day, Touko-san heaps Natsume’s plate full, and with teary eyes, she tells him that she’s proud. Shigeru doesn’t add, but he’s smiling that gentle, all-knowing smile of his, and Natsume knows the feeling is mutual between them. 

 

Natsume keeps his own tears until he goes to bed that night, a warmth in his chest that he’s wholly unfamiliar with. He’s proud, too, of himself. And wary of the future, unsure of what it’s going to bring and where it’s going to take him. And sad, to leave behind all the things he’s come to love.

 

More than anything, though, he’s grateful. Grateful that he was able to come here, to this town. To be taken in by the Fujiwaras, to meet all his friends. Nyanko, too, and the yuujinchou, and even Natori, despite the trouble they’ve caused him. 

 

He’s grateful for it all.

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading <3


End file.
